This might be best theme I've ever written

[whgoss]

I know stuff like this gets thrown around a lot as clickbait, but I genuinely feel like this might be my best work to date. It's for a tactical, deck-building strategy game called NOMIA whose setting is part adventure, part magical. I feel like the theme itself is strong and that the development of that theme, along with the production, marks a new breakthrough in my writing. I would love to hear everyone's thoughts!



If you're interested in following NOMIA's development, you can find the devlog here: https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=75080.0

Click to read more...

 

[Matt Godbey]

Very nice. I love the space you get at the beginning, that dark-ish world, I mean, where that piano lives.
Good chord progression in the melody with a pleasant lead to the development and bringing in the choir.
Nice exit, too, with the piano saying goodbye.

All in all, powerful and mysterious. I have not looked at the website yet, but I feel sure you've captured the mood.

I'd be proud to have written that, for sure.

M.

 

[swinkler]

Nice job. I like the overall form of the piece and the orchestration carries that along nicely. It does seem like a pretty flexible theme you've come up with. Could lend itself to many moods, etc. Again nice work.

 

[LukeFisherComposer]

I like this work a lot! The opening atmosphere is really nice, and I love the orchestration. It does start to feel a little empty after the first few seconds before the choir comes in. Honestly, throughout the whole piece (if you want to push yourself and this piece a bit) could handle a third layer, either a middle or a bass depending on how you want to frame the existing accompaniment - if you want more texture, add a new layer as middle, if want more weight, add a more active bass as accents of or a counter-line to the melody. Right now, the ideas you present are very clear and understandable, but *almost* to the point being too easy for the listener to follow. A distinct third layer can help give the piece more motion and more for to arrest the listener's attention. Also, your main melody seems to be completely quarter notes/quavers right. Just re-evaluating that melody to see if you can add even a little rhythmic variety (like a dotted-quarter+eighth at the end of a phrase) could make the melody more memorable and distinct. If you are finished with the piece, or if you intentionally wanted it more simple, clean, and open, take this with a grain of salt - it's already a strong piece! Nice work!

 

[whgoss]

Very nice. I love the space you get at the beginning, that dark-ish world, I mean, where that piano lives.
Good chord progression in the melody with a pleasant lead to the development and bringing in the choir.
Nice exit, too, with the piano saying goodbye.

All in all, powerful and mysterious. I have not looked at the website yet, but I feel sure you've captured the mood.

I'd be proud to have written that, for sure.

M.

Nice job. I like the overall form of the piece and the orchestration carries that along nicely. It does seem like a pretty flexible theme you've come up with. Could lend itself to many moods, etc. Again nice work.

Thanks so much!

I like this work a lot! The opening atmosphere is really nice, and I love the orchestration. It does start to feel a little empty after the first few seconds before the choir comes in. Honestly, throughout the whole piece (if you want to push yourself and this piece a bit) could handle a third layer, either a middle or a bass depending on how you want to frame the existing accompaniment - if you want more texture, add a new layer as middle, if want more weight, add a more active bass as accents of or a counter-line to the melody. Right now, the ideas you present are very clear and understandable, but *almost* to the point being too easy for the listener to follow. A distinct third layer can help give the piece more motion and more for to arrest the listener's attention. Also, your main melody seems to be completely quarter notes/quavers right. Just re-evaluating that melody to see if you can add even a little rhythmic variety (like a dotted-quarter+eighth at the end of a phrase) could make the melody more memorable and distinct. If you are finished with the piece, or if you intentionally wanted it more simple, clean, and open, take this with a grain of salt - it's already a strong piece! Nice work!

Thanks for the feedback! I do agree the melody is almost too simple with strictly quarter notes. But I also think that's what gives it a sense of grandiosity—it just keeps powering forward inevitably like an unstoppable force.

 

[SyMTiK]

I personally like the melody the way it is. I tend to like simpler melodies in general honestly, I think an effective melody should have a recognizable and memorable form which yours does and I agree with your feeling about the quarter note melody having a forward driving motion. Some of the most recognizable themes ever written are only two notes (Jaws)

One area I do think could use some work would be in your orchestration. I think you have a really solid musical idea, but it does kinda feel like everything is playing the same thing at times, and there is a lot of room for some countermotion and textural interest.

For example - at 35 seconds, I really really love that string part you have, but there is so much room there for a melodic element to respond to what the strings are playing. I does feel like for the most part you just have a melody layer and a harmonic layer, and that harmonic layer could have way more textural flourishes and counterlines to make the piece feel more dynamic.

Overall though I really enjoyed it, and it is very catchy!!

 

[whgoss]

I personally like the melody the way it is. I tend to like simpler melodies in general honestly, I think an effective melody should have a recognizable and memorable form which yours does and I agree with your feeling about the quarter note melody having a forward driving motion. Some of the most recognizable themes ever written are only two notes (Jaws)

One area I do think could use some work would be in your orchestration. I think you have a really solid musical idea, but it does kinda feel like everything is playing the same thing at times, and there is a lot of room for some countermotion and textural interest.

For example - at 35 seconds, I really really love that string part you have, but there is so much room there for a melodic element to respond to what the strings are playing. I does feel like for the most part you just have a melody layer and a harmonic layer, and that harmonic layer could have way more textural flourishes and counterlines to make the piece feel more dynamic.

Overall though I really enjoyed it, and it is very catchy!!

I think that's a fair critique, there's not a lot of counterpoint going on here. I do tend to prefer the simple stuff and to let the strength of the ideas speak for themselves rather than always trying to add complexity where it may not be needed. The downside to that approach is that you can miss or overlook opportunities to enhance a piece.

Whether or not it's needed here is hard for me to say. I quite like the sing-song nature of it and how effective it is on its own, but you've definitely given me something to think about!

For what it's worth, my approach to composition is to find ways for each part to play a critical role so that nothing is throwaway. For example, the strings begin the piece as simple background accompaniment before taking over in the B section with the string part you mentioned that you liked around 0:35. What makes that idea in the B section so effective, I think, is that it follows the same 6 note rhythmic pattern as in the beginning but with different accents and timing—so it feels like an evolution of the same idea.

My point is that I feel like there is an underrated complexity there—it's really difficult to find ideas that are interrelated, flow naturally together, and that are all engaging on their own. But I guess that's just composition in a nutshell